Plagiarism

"Plagiarism, An act or instance of plagiarizing ( i.e., taking the writings of another person and passing them off as one's own). The fraudulence is closely related to forgery and piracy practices generally in violation of copyright laws."

~Source: Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (c)1995.

Don't Let This Happen to You!

You can receive a grade of "0" or even fail your class if you plagiarize. Plagiarism can happen in several different ways. You may be conscious of doing some and others may be unintentional. Examples:

• Failing to cite sources you used.
• Copying text from a source and pasting it into your paper.
• Getting someone else to write your paper.
• Buying a paper and turning it as your own work.

Avoiding plagiarism can be a balancing act, but there are things that can help. Here are some steps that can help:

1. Make sure you get all the info you need to cite your sources when you first find them.
2. Citation is usually the last thing you do before turning in your paper, but it takes longer to do than you think. Ideally you should leave enough time to be able to ask your instructor about any citations you are not sure about.
3. Learn how to paraphrase properly.